Democrats in Florida House seek review of voting laws

John Kennedy Gannett Capital Bureau

Wednesday

Dec 12, 2018 at 5:06 PMDec 12, 2018 at 5:48 PM

TALLAHASSEE — Razor-thin election results in November, which exposed possible problems with Florida’s voting laws, sparked state House Democrats to begin work Wednesday on a wide-ranging package of changes.

But the approach appears likely to draw little support from the Legislature’s ruling Republicans and elections supervisors across the state, who say that only modest fixes may be needed, despite Gov. Rick Scott's claims of fraud after the Nov. 6 vote and Florida again drawing national ridicule over its vote-counting.

“Until we recognize that there are issues that must be dealt with…we will forever be a laughing stock for the country,” said House Democratic Leader Kionne McGhee of Miami.

Florida conducted an unprecedented three statewide recounts following the general election, with races for U.S. Senate, governor and state agriculture commissioner remaining unsettled for almost two weeks.

Democrat-heavy Broward and Palm Beach counties struggled to count votes amid machine breakdowns and misplaced ballots, and endured even more problems once the recounts were ordered.

Scott, whose Election Day lead over Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson narrowed as votes in the two counties were counted, lashed out at elections supervisors there, accusing “left-wing activists” of trying to tilt results toward his rival.

Scott on Nov. 20 was certified as the winner over Nelson, with Republican Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis and Agriculture Commissioner-elect Nikki Fried also declared victorious following recounts. Ten days later, the governor suspended Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes and replaced her with his former general counsel, Pete Antonacci.

On Wednesday, House Democrats said little about how Broward and Palm Beach elections officials performed.

Instead, Democrats talked of easing deadlines for counting early votes and concluding recounts, providing more state money for counties to upgrade voting equipment and making uniform county elections procedures, particularly when it comes to notifying a voter if there is a problem with accepting a ballot.

Records show that almost 7,000 mail-in ballots went uncounted because they were received too late at county offices, prompting some Democrats to argue that the law should be changed to allow ballots postmarked by election day to be accepted.

Similarly, Democrats said county officials should be required to undergo standardized training when it comes to determining whether voter signatures match those on file – another issue that emerged in November, when some candidates complained that some votes were being wrongly discarded.

A coalition of organizations, including the Florida League of Women Voters, Florida Education Association, and ACLU of Florida, also weighed in Wednesday supporting a rewrite of key state election laws.

House Democrats, though, may face an uphill fight in seeking wholesale changes.

The state’s association of election supervisors, meeting in Sarasota this month, concluded that the elections went well, especially considering that 8.3 million votes were cast for a 63 percent turnout — highest for a midterm election in Florida since 1994.

Supervisors said most counties completed the vote-counting and recounts smoothly.

The association is recommending a few changes, including mailing absentee ballots earlier, allowing officials to begin counting mail-in ballots earlier, and giving voters an extra day to correct signature mismatches on ballots mailed in.

House Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Miami, and Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, also have said they don’t see a need for a major overhaul of the current system.

Galvano, though, conceded, last month, “I think we’ve had too many problems through too many cycles.”

“It’s something I’m interested in doing, taking a look at how we are working the process,” he said, adding he would consider “modifications.”

House Democrats, who number only 47 lawmakers in the 120-member House, said it was important for them to band together in their call for changes.

“The strength of the wolf is in the pack,” said Rep. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, who plans to lead the House effort.

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